Voice Of The Mute
by MessengerOfDreams
Summary: <html><head></head>For The Stupendous Jimbo's Romance Contest. The original, with the letter prologue and extended ending. As his legs start to fail him and his paper heart starts to slow, Mr Game and Watch learns to find his voice at long last.</html>


**A/N- You know, I just had to try this.**

**Yes, I know that there hasn't been a contest entry for Stupendous Jimbo's contest in months and yes I know he mentioned having the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placers in his mind and yes I don't expect this to be entered (although I'm not opposed to it) and yes I know I need to stop crashing contests late. This was just an idea I wanted to try and since I don't have access to my other documents at the moment I'll try this out for fun.**

**I noticed Stupendous Jimbo's contest around a month ago while learning myself on the best writers and stories of this fanfiction section- a self-taught history lesson, if you will. And I noticed the theme of the contest and went "Hooooo shiiiiiz." At first I was like "God bless me for having missed that contest cos I'd have been screwed."**

**I tried reading an entry and I slowly started to realize that everyone seemed to be trying to improvise for having no dialogue, and I sat there wondering "Why isn't anyone embracing this? Going all Wall-E on this or something?" (Yes I know Wall-E had dialogue at the second half and beyond, but most of it was silent and it was the best movie ever). I started conceptualizing an idea for fun, but never made anything about it.**

**The other day I wondered "Where are the results at?" I checked the topic and found that- whoa- the contest was **_**still **_**going, and would keep going until "Whenever the f**k you feel like sending it in!" until he got ten submissions… which I don't think he has… but not that it matters. So yeah, today, I sit here bored, all my half-done documents over the internet which I can't reach and decide that it's time to test myself.**

**So yeah, I don't expect this to be an entry, I just wanted to experiment and try my idea. So yeah, prepare for… don't even bother preparing, this could go either way. Just be reactive and prepared for anything.**

**Ciao and enjoy! Oh, and to sound clichéd and needy, review! I could use some of those.**

**MoD**

_Journal Entry #1_

_When most people open their mouth, words come out. There's one million, nine thousand six hundred and fourteen official words in the English language, and that's not counting slang, names and all that stuff. Think about it- there's twenty six letters, said so many ways, that there's countless ways to mix them, enunciate them, and so many different ways we can make them sound. There's millions, no, billions, no, trillions of ways we can talk!_

_And I can't do one of them._

_The only sound I have ever been able to make is an ungodly, abnormal beep. Ever since I was created in that lab by Nintendo, the forsaken, flawed experiment that I was, created only to entertain children who simply laugh at my appearance like the freak I am, ever since I can remember. Only beep._

_Not entirely true, I suppose. Every step I take makes a clicking sound. Not that much better, though, it just annoys everyone, myself included._

_I have never communicated a word of my soul to anyone before. If this wasn't enough of a clue, I can type well enough, but that's only because Nintendo just had a typewriter created to support my thick, half-assed fingers. This will be the only way I will ever be able to talk about who I am, and, let's face it, my audience is slim to none. Actually, just none._

_Others say that they must keep their emotions bottled up, but they have options. Options that they are too scared of pursuing. Oftentimes they lock themselves up; they are too scared of what others think and it's their personal demons they must fight in order to be heard. I'm different from them- I want to tell other people about who I am, what I do, or even how my day was. But I can't. I can't get anyone to even pay attention to me, let alone type out my thoughts to them._

_I am literally alone in the midst of thousands of people._

_And now you know why I'm here, why I'm typing this. This will be the first time I ever talk. These are the first words I have ever said._

_I am Mister Game and Watch._

_And these are my words._

Mr. Game and Watch looked at the paper somberly. It was in an unkempt pile with hundreds of others. Two hundred and thirty-two to be exact. He set it down when he saw the time on the clock and left the room, the farthest room of the mansion in the most depressing corner. He tried to leave quietly, but when there was a clicking sound every step he took, that wasn't too much an option.

Click, click, click, click. Game and Watch would have had a headache only he could not feel much of anything since he was never created with nerves. He continued to walk down the hall and past everyone; through the greenhouse, The Champion's Shrine, another hallway, through the game room, past the children's play room, through another hallway, through the large living room, through the study, through another hallway and into the room of his destination-the dining room.

He was thirty minutes late for dinner, but that was just how he liked it.

He had long since given up on trying to be around other people or fighters. Often times he was mocked for his outlandish, freaky looks, and usually had been made to bear the punishment of this misfortune. He had been kicked around, called names, and had once fallen victim to an ambush by some of the preteen fighters horsing around and thought it was funny.

Game and Watch didn't feel physical pain, but he knew the message they were sending. He is a mistake. Worthless. Ugly. A failure by design.

Most of the time, though, no one thought it worth the trouble to bully the 2-D figure and he was left alone. This was just as bad, because it still sent the same message, and added that he wasn't even worth their time to be near.

Ultimately, the only friend he ever had was the typewriter. It did not talk to him but Game and Watch knew that it couldn't either. But Game and Watch could talk to it. He typed on it daily, as much as he could. He wrote down his ambitions, his thoughts, his emotions, his dreams, his nightmares, his pain, his past, and his frustration. He wanted to be able to talk to the typewriter not only to release his thoughts, but to give it the company and attention he had never received.

Game and Watch got a bowl, put a ladleful of Peach's soup into it and sat down at the large, almost entirely empty table. He may have been an unnamable species created by man's foolish hands, but he still could eat, and defy physics as a bonus. He put his spoon in, stirred it around, and took a hesitant bite.

He swallowed, and drew away. The soup was… missing something. And he had a feeling what.

Game and Watch got up, walked down through the kitchen and climbed up the counter just below a spice rack. This wasn't the best thing he could have done, and he got a good struggle for his efforts. He started to study the different kinds of available spices until he found the one he was looking for. Beeping in happiness, he picked up the paprika, walked back down to the table and to his bowl. He opened the cap, and slowly, steadily started to tilt the small bottle of paprika down until just a few tiny red specks fell into the broth.

Instantly, he jerked his hand away and closed the bottle back up. Stirring the soup again, he took a small, hesitant bite. He took it slowly, savoring every morsel of taste and critiquing the spice's effect on the soup.

He beeped with satisfaction. Perfect. He greedily started to slurp the bowl down, enjoying the newfound firework of taste he had created. After three spectacular minutes, he set the bowl down and lay back in his chair.

That was when he heard her giggle.

It wasn't so much a giggle as an easily interpreted proclamation of her own name, but Game and Watch heard her and knew what she had meant. He turned around swiftly to see who now easily the only other occupant at the table was. He instantly matched the voice to its owner, a small, round pink ball with a blue bow, so light that when her body shook with her giggles, she floated up in the air a few centimeters. It was Jigglypuff.

Embarrassed, he beeped angrily, it coming out in a harsh, painful burst. Anger was one of the only emotions he could perform easily. Jigglypuff stopped laughing and got down from the table at a slow speed, hobbling off her chair and around. Game and Watch slammed his flat head into the table, frustrated and mood-killed. He was about to get up and leave when suddenly he heard her name again. This time, though, it was from right in front of him, the voice's owner wearing a look of surprise and wonder. Game and Watch beeped and jumped back in his chair a bit.

Jigglypuff giggled again as he settled back into his chair, his head on the table wrapped in his arms. When he stayed there for more than thirty seconds, her countenance turned into one of concern and she tapped him on his shoulder. He looked up to see her wave with a small smile.

As a retort, Game and Watch shrugged and got ready to get up. Surprised, Jiggly held onto him and tried to drag him back. Her small size wouldn't allow for that, though, and ultimately she ended up holding onto his arm as he walked out of the dining room, ignoring her in the hopes that she would be shaken off.

But she didn't, and she wouldn't let go. Down the hallway, through the study, the large living room, through another hallway, past the children's play room, the game room, through another hallway, The Champion's Shrine, the greenhouse and back to his lonely, depressing room at the end of the mansion. He settled down on his bed and threw his hands in the air, Jigglypuff still latched onto one of them effortlessly.

He tried another angry beep, causing her to let go, but she didn't leave. She just looked around the room in curiosity. She had never been in this part of the mansion after all.

She looked satisfied when she saw a pile of blank paper that stacked up as high as Game and Watch's bed. She made her way to them, ignoring Game and Watch as he tried to block them from her path. She took a paper, dug around in her bow for a second and pulled out a pen, seemingly from nowhere. The pen was a common Bic, white with a blue lid. She took the lid off with her mouth and started to draw, Game and Watch crazily beeping in protest. Unaware of his intent or just not caring, she finished her quick drawing and showed it to him.

The drawing was simple, a picture of a head similar to the one on Pictochat, with the words "blah blah blah" coming out of its mouth and a giant question mark next to it. She looked at him meaningfully and shrugged her stubby arms, pointing at the picture with her eyes. It seemed as though she was asking if he could speak.

Game and Watch shook his head in response.

Jigglypuff took his response in stride, drawing some more, this time madly scribbling over her previous drawing. He showed it back to him, the talking head and its blahs completely covered with black pen. She looked at him sadly. He understood.

She gave him the pen and got another piece of paper, this time to fewer protests. She put the paper in front of him and pointed at it.

Game and Watch understood again. He was a combination of surprised, happy, yet doubtful. Before he let himself get carried away, he drew a short picture. In fifteen seconds he passed the paper for her to see.

The paper this time showed a short stick figure similar in appearance to Game and Watch himself, and on his arm a small stick figure, shaped like a ball with two little stubs attached to Game and Watch's wrist. Then above it he put a question mark.

Jigglypuff giggled at the picture and took all of ten seconds to draw hers. She revealed it to be a frowning face, with a large nose attached on the side.

Game and Watch was more hopeful now. He crossed out the frown on Jigglypuff's rendition of himself and put a smiling line there instead. Jigglypuff saw this and grinned.

She pulled the paper away and started to draw madly. About thirty seconds later the face had a tall chef's hat on it. On the chef's hat she put another question mark.

Game and Watch nodded again. This time it was he who got another piece of paper and started to draw a more elaborate picture. It took him three minutes to finish this one, but he did, and he showed it to Jigglypuff.

This time he had shown her a sort of comic strip. On one part he showed himself tiptoeing onto a restaurant named "Le Magnifique" under some small stars and a bit of dark sky. In the next he was on the counter with a pot and spoon, in the middle of stirring. The third showed him hiding under the refrigerator as a mean-looking man had his head stuck in. The fourth and last showed him leaving the restaurant under a sun just above the ground.

Jigglypuff was surprised at what she saw. Game and Watch sneaking into restaurants just to teach himself how to cook? He noticed her surprise and confusion and decided to give her a demonstration. Bending down to his flattest, he crept under his closed door and outside into the hallway. He did this again in order to re-enter the room to a giggling Jigglypuff clapping her short hands.

She took the pen and drew a short reply. In a succession there was a picture of Game and Watch's head, a heart, and an apple, a loaf of bread and a sloppily drawn steak which was finished by another question mark.

Game and Watch nodded rapidly, smiling best he could. He drew another short comic, this one easier. He drew a picture of an eye, and then a few wavy lines over it to cloud its 'sight', he drew a picture of an ear, some music notes outside of it, and only one going in. He ended by drawing a smelling nose and an open mouth and emphasized this by circling it and an exclamation mark.

Jigglypuff nodded and took her turn. She took a minute on this one. After she finished she showed him a drawing of her, eyes closed and mouth open, a microphone in her hand.

Game and Watch pointed at her meaningfully, and at the paper, shrugging his shoulders. She shook her head sadly, and took the pen back, and turning it into her own comic strip.

Below the singing Jigglypuff, she drew herself again, looking surprised as stick figures all lay near her, with Zzzzzzs coming out of their mouths. In the last panel she drew herself walking away sadly, throwing the microphone behind her.

Game and Watch was touched by this. He wasn't the only one who was unable to truly communicate; she put people to sleep every time she sang. Reactively, he wrapped his arms around her in a hug, picking up most of her body while doing so. It took him a few seconds to realize what he had just did, and, embarrassed, lets the bewildered Jigglypuff down on the ground.

She smiled and grabbed his hand, and before he knew it, she was trying to drag him out the door she had opened. He clambered to his feet and started to let her lead him down a hallway, through the greenhouse and into The Champion's Shrine.

The Champion's Shrine was no holy place, but it was the place where the best of the tourneys were celebrated. Game and Watch had never spent much time here but he knew that the winners consisted of Fox and Falco of the Star Fox crew and Pikachu, winning the second and first tourneys, respectively. He looked around in the room. In the center was a large statue of Fox, Falco and Pikachu, sculpted together in one take. It was rather impeccable, from what he could tell. But that wasn't what Jigglypuff was interested in.

He followed her over to a corner, where there was a large portrait of her, standing in front of the Pokemon Stadium large-screen teleprompter, wearing a bronze medal with the smash bros logo on it. She pointed to it and grinned proudly, so large that she had to shut her eyes.

So she had placed so well in the Melee tournament. Game and Watch grinned and clapped his hands, a clicking noise being made every clap. Jigglypuff opened her eyes and gave him a hug this time, wrapping her short arms around his pencil-thin neck, cooing in relaxation. If Game and Watch could, he would have turned red.

She let him go and followed him back to his room, where he ran in, grabbed the pen and several slips of paper, and then opened the back door, holding it open for her. She hesitated, wrapping her arms around herself in fear of cold, but walked out anyway.

Up a nearby hill she followed him, him walking, her hopping in long bursts of flotation, letting her mind wander all over the place until suddenly, she heard his sharp, painful beeps, the same she had heard when he was shouting at her at the table. Startled out of her thoughts, she looked down to see that he lay on the ground, face-first, trying to lift himself up. Every time he tried, he got a few inches off the ground, and then fell down again. Frustrated, he started to beep madly as he put a hand on his leg, which refused to co-operate.

Jigglypuff wasted no time. She floated over and utilized her minute strength to help. She jumped above him, grabbed, and jumped mid-air, pulling him up slightly. She took another mid-air jump, and then another, him standing up straighter every time. He finally clambered to his feet, and tried to walk again. Before he could, though, Jigglypuff came to the ground and stood next to him. She stood up to his chest, but stood on her tiptoes to support him from falling, a hand on his back and another on his chest. With a reassuring smile, she started to coax him up the top of the hill.

About five minutes later, they arrived at the top, and Game and Watch collapsed in a heap, beeping weakly. Alarmed, she coaxed him up into a sitting position against a nearby rock. He smiled, grabbed the paper and the pen and pointed at the stars. She gave him a quizzical look, to which he grinned wider. He looked at the stars, started to point at certain ones with his pen, and then started to dot up his paper, and then connect his own dots. He showed her his creation- several dots connected in a line and then a shape at the end that made up a spoon. Above in sloppy handwriting was the title "The Big Dipper."

She giggled. She loved constellations. She snatched the paper up in anticipation and started to look for her own stars. Soon enough, she had replicated a constellation of Orion.

Game and Watch clapped his hands and took the paper in them. They continued to stargaze and shape constellations, even ones that they had never heard of. Game and Watch created a Marioesque mushroom in the farthest corner, while Jigglypuff found a vine of grapes in the center. The star of the night was when, in the top right, Game and Watch crafted a bow similar in shape to Jigglypuff's. She giggled and wrapped him in another hug, but pulled away in fear of hurting him.

He noticed her concern, and patted her on the head before taking a new sheet of paper and drawing a picture of him, being punched by a disembodied hand, his face looking plain and indifferent. It took her a minute to get what he meant but she figured out that he felt no pain. She looked bewildered as she put a question mark next to his drawing.

He frowned a bit as he drew the Nintendo logo and then a ©. Then he drew himself again.

She didn't even have a response to that. She just looked, blinked and gave him the paper back.

He took her cue and created a long comic strip that took him ten minutes to fill out. She sat there, anxious, as he scribbled out bits and re-drew them, stopped to put his head in his hand and then continued. When he finished, he seemed hesitant to give it up to her. But he did, and she read.

Panel one consisted of a vial, one that a scientist would use. On the label was a picture of Game and Watch. In the next, it showed him standing next to a poster of a normal-looking man in stick figure form, and other stick figures with their head in their hands. The words "we have failed" were above the picture. Jigglypuff put a hand over her mouth in shock as she continued to read.

In panel three it showed a bunch of children watching television. In panel four it showed the same kids laughing at him and pointing, with Game and Watch hanging his head in shame. In panel five, it showed a foot kicking him out a door, Game and Watch careening towards a landing on his face. The sixth showed an envelope with Nintendo's seal on it. The seventh showed him on a rough interpretation of the Final Destination stage, being punched by a stick figure fighter and a distant audience, represented only by circles, with the words "ha ha ha!" over their heads. The last was of Game and Watch sitting alone on his bed, head in his hands.

Jigglypuff had never felt so angry before she had seen this comic strip, and tore it to shreds after reading it. She furiously got another piece of paper out, and drew a messy picture as a retort. It was meant in a serious light, but he couldn't help but laugh when he saw the picture of stick figure Jigglypuff grabbing a man by the neck and making shaking motions, the letters "haha-aaaggghhh!" above it. Jigglypuff was angered by this and turned towards the mansion, only to point at it and stick her tongue out at it.

Game and Watch tapped her on the shoulder and shook her head, bringing her in close to himself and a hand through her tuft of hair. She relaxed, smiling, as they gazed at the stars. At long last, when he yawned, she put a hand in his and started to sing softly, the only word escaping her mouth being her own name, until she felt him fall asleep. She smiled sadly and carried him down the hill slowly and back into his own room so he wouldn't have to traverse the hill again.

Game and Watch had been indifferent to death. If it came, it came. And there was nothing he could do about it. Being built as a problematic experiment of Nintendo certainly wasn't going to contribute to him living long, though. And as he left Dr. Mario's office the next morning, his suspicions had been confirmed.

He thought he could handle the news, but inside his paper heart he was shaken. He wasn't going to miss much, in fact, not anything… except for her. And he didn't know how he was going to break the news.

He didn't have any time to prepare though. In the course of ten seconds, he had run into Jigglypuff, greeted excitedly, and then led down the hall, through several rooms until they were by the kitchen. Jigglypuff had tried to cover his eyes but couldn't find where he saw from, so he just covered his own as she led him through the door.

When she had him open his eyes, he was surprised and moved by what he saw. All around the large, homey kitchen were cooking utensils and ingredients. She had set the cookbook open to "Gumbo." When he pointed to his favorite dish in shock she referred him to a picture she had drawn of his sausage move, causing him to beep in laughter.

And off they went, without any cues or explanation needed. He was the head chef, she his sous. He filled up the pot, set it to boil and started to chop up okra. When he needed the bag of rice, he wrote it on the paper and Jigglypuff started to jump up and grab it for him. She searched the fridge for things that she thought might have been good for it; he accepted some with a joyous beep and rejected others with a shake of the head.

When she got out the long string of sausage, he thought it good to teach her a bit. He brought her over and put the knife in her hands. She was startled by this but he gently started to guide her hand across the sausage in order to show her the best sizing of the slices. Gently their hands gripped the knife as they cut steadily through the meat and placed it in the pot.

After awhile, Game and Watch deemed it ready and started to scoop up a couple of bowls for the two of them. They sat next to each other on the countertop, eating and savoring the flavors. He wrote down some tips and techniques he had grown to love, and she read and debated them. It was their first time using words to communicate.

At the end, though, she had went back to picture-drawing, drawing the same picture of Game and Watch, the heart, and the food. He beeped softly, and crossed out the food, only to draw a stick figure of Jigglypuff in its place. As she beheld the image, stunned, he took the opportunity to kiss her on the top of her head. Grinning mischievously, she jumped on top of him and planted her own on his lips.

It was time. He knew it all too well, even if Dr. Mario had not told him. He felt himself getting weaker and weaker as he finished typing into the typewriter, each key being typed slower and slower. The last page was printed out as he heard the storms outside. A fitting way to depart.

He gathered all the papers, made sure as best he could that they were in order in their pile, before he started to feebly walk outside of his room, looking for Jigglypuff. He found her nearby, thankfully, in the Champion's Shrine, sitting near the statue in contemplation. He beeped faintly, rapidly to get her attention, and she followed him back towards his room, worried.

He crept in the room, only able to get this far with Jigglypuff urging him forward, and tried to lift up the pile of papers, his heart beat getting slower. She picked up the pile, now totally freaked out. Putting a hand on his chest, she felt his heartbeat's decreasing and hurriedly wrote down the numbers _911_ on it. He shook his head, feebly pointing towards the clock and making an X with his hands.

She started to cry, but he squeezed her hand as he lay against the wall, beeping painfully. Pain, a new thing to him; something he had never experienced. Suddenly, his beeps began to get louder and sounded more gut-wrenching. Jigglypuff kissed him one last time, and then started to sing, her voice becoming cut apart by her own sobs as she felt him come to a complete standstill, his paper heart beating no more.

The Master Hands had declared it natural causes as the reason for his death, and the creators of Nintendo did the same, but she knew better. She knew that from birth he had been ill, cheaply created by Nintendo with no regard to what would happen to him afterward.

She lost all heart in the tournament they were in right now, and started to drop. She would end the tournament in 34th place, 31 down from her third of Melee.

And it took her a week after the ill-attended funeral to get the courage to look at the papers that he had left her as a dying request. From the very first words, she felt how tortured he was, and could barely bring herself to finish the first entry. A week later she dared to read the second. It became easier after that.

She read about his aspirations to become a chef, matches he had watched that he had found funny, his own tournament mishaps, and his dreams, which ranged from wild and funny to depressing and painful. She read up on his complete past, which confirmed what she knew. The more she read, the easier it became, and soon she was at peace with his departure, happy that at least she was honoring his last wish.

Before she read the last entry, she decided to make herself some sausage, cutting the slices into perfect morsels before she sat down. The last entry was a note to Jigglypuff, and it was the one that had affected her the most. She started to cry again as she read it.

"Dear Jigglypuff,

When most people open their mouth, words come out. There's one million, nine thousand six hundred and fourteen official words in the English language, and that's not counting slang, names and all that stuff. Think about it- there's twenty six letters, said so many ways, that there's countless ways to mix them, enunciate them, and so many different ways we can make them sound. There's millions, no, billions, no, trillions of ways we can talk!

I always thought I would never experience that with another person, but you've taught me something. You've taught me that there are millions of ways to talk, to converse, to love, to live. I always thought I was doomed to die a lonely soul, but you showed me in my last few days how to truly live. I know I'm dying now, but I am glad to at least say I will be dying happy.

You helped me find my voice. And to make sure you know you have one of your own, I want you to have my typewriter, and to use it.

Thank you, Jigglypuff. For everything. For laughing with me, for singing me to sleep, for cooking with me, and most of all, for being the first to hear me.

Love,

Game and Watch."

With tears running down her face, she ran into Game and Watch's room, left alone since his passing, and sat in his chair. Taking in a deep breath, she started to type.

A wise man once told me that there were one-million something thousand words in the English language, but he told me that I taught him that there were other ways to truly talk and communicate. That was the last thing he said to me before he died, but I read it a few months later. What I taught him I never knew until he taught me.

I have always been silent, but I just took it as what it was. I could only say my name, so I never bothered or gave it a second thought. But with Pokemon Trainers that have neither knowledge nor care about what we feel, yet we are indebted to them.

These are the first words I shall ever say to another living thing besides the wise man who taught me. I loved that man, and although I knew him for only three days the impact he had on me will last longer than that, much longer. Someday I will give these papers to someone else so they may learn- I may even show the world, but I am not sure what to do with them.

I am Jigglypuff.

This is my first entry.

And this is my voice to the world.

**A/N- If you're reading this, this is the second time I'm typing this author's note. Grr at early save.**

**This was a real test to me. Not so much the dialogue, that fell into place, but the death of Game and Watch. Throughout most of my reading and writing life, I was against character death. But even though I usually see the world in rose-colored glasses I know that sometimes it's necessary to tell a story this way.**

**So yeah, whether this gets in as an entry (in which case, damn. I wouldn't have been able to believe it, considering I'm sure I broke several entry rules) or not (which I am expecting) I'm glad I wrote this. I think it's a great work. Will be working on Strings, Iris, and a new fling of mine before you know it!**

**Thanks for reading! (and thank you even more for reviewing!) And a special non-asskissy thanks to Stupendous, for having the balls to take out dialogue in a contest. XD**

**MoD**


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